Righteousness

Jesus’ life illustrates the kind of passion for righteousness that all the people
of God are to emulate. He said that His food was “to do the will of [God]”
(John 4:34). For Christ, His very survival depended on ...Read More

By His death and resurrection Jesus broke the power of Satan in order to destroy his evil works. Jesus has secured this victory but has not yet consummated it, and He has given us a role to play in destroying ...Read More

Only if we are in Christ will we be spotless and therefore pure enough to enter the world to come. His righteousness imputed to us in justification will be the only thing that secures our entry into heaven. However, our ...Read More

We often do not feel like righteous people, nonetheless we are declared righteous on account of our faith in Christ. As such, we must live a life that reflects this reality. If you have broken a promise recently, go apologize ...Read More

John Calvin comments on today’s passage that the emphasis on believing with the heart shows that “faith is a firm and effectual confidence and not a bare notion only.” Saving faith is not simply knowing the truth about Jesus ...Read More

Jesus is the only human being who has ever had perfect faith in God. The faith
the Lord demands from us is real faith, not perfect faith, and faith can be real
even if it is imperfect. Still, we are ...Read More

The early church father Irenaeus writes: “How is Christ the end of the law if he is not also the cause of it? For he who has brought in the end also created the beginning.” The Son of God gave ...Read More

Circumcision per se is not bad. For Paul it was indifferent to one’s place in the kingdom—that is, until the Judaizers insisted that circumcision is required for salvation. To so insist was to go too far and to ...Read More

The parallels between the imputation of sin and righteousness demonstrate that it is erroneous to believe righteousness is a metaphysical reality that is infused into the believer. John Calvin writes, “The gift of righteousness is not a quality with which ...Read More

A desire to obey God and do good in itself is not opposed to faith. The problem arises when we see our works as the basis upon which God declares us righteous. John Calvin comments, “It is not he, whom ...Read More

At times, our growth as Christians seems painfully slow. Sin entices us; discouragement
stymies us. We may be tempted to give up. But that is not an option. One who is truly born
again simply cannot return to a life ...Read More

In justification, “our record does not change, but our guilt does” (R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone, p. 96). God does not ignore our sin when He justifies us, and He knows that until we die we will battle sin and ...Read More

The gift character of righteousness is underscored in Paul’s statement that “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” Our position before the Lord is by faith alone from first to last, and nothing we do can ...Read More

Ephesians 1:13–14 says the Holy Spirit is the “guarantee” of our inheritance. When Jesus returns to usher in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21), the promises to Abraham will reach their consummation as we are blessed with ...Read More